Jeff “Podunk” Pelline, always quick to come to the defense of a potential advertiser in his alleged magazine, is going after The Union for a recent story claiming multiple customers’ drinks were spiked at local bars.

The Union ran a story reporting on a woman’s complaint to local police that she believed her drink was spiked (“roofied” is the slang term) when she was at the Golden Era Lounge with her husband. (The bar is a regular advertiser in Podunk’s “magazine.”)

That prompted several area residents to recount similar experiences on Facebook and other social media, which as regular readers of Jeffie’s blog know, is changing the way we communicate.

The Union then wrote a followup story recounting their claims. But apparently Pelline is skeptical of social media’s truthfulness in this instance, writing is his blog that The Union’s story was based on “anonymous people who ‘suspect’ they were given spiked drinks.”

In a bit of (I assume) unintended irony, Jeffy added the following comment to the post: “Word on the street this afternoon is that a lot of local restaurants and bars are furious at this ‘rampant roofie’ article because it is based on hearsay without any corroboration.” Who are your sources, Jeffie? Where’s the corroboration?

In a followup to this post, Pelline reported he has filed a Freedom-of-Information request with the Nevada City Police Department to get a copy of the police report on a “roofie” incident reported in The Union. (This is the same police department he wanted investigated a year ago because a bank in Podunk’s neighborhood was held up twice.)

“Let’s see what the investigation entailed and what turned up–if anything. We all have a right to know,” he wrote in explaining the FOI request.

Of course, instead of forcing the PD to invest the time and money required to formally respond to his FOI request, Jeffie could have gone over to the department and asked to see the report.

But that would be too easy, and he wouldn’t have a chance to grandstand for the area bars and restaurants that are the life blood of his so-called magazine.

Watching Jeff Pelline continually bash all people and things associated with The Union (and all local folks who like The Union) since he got fired from The Union is like watching a train wreck. Hey Jeff. Ackerman fired you. Get over it.

Barry, for the record, Pelline was laid off by The Union, not fired. People in a position to know told me Ackerman had to choose between an ad manager or an editor. I’m sure the fact that he is one of the few publishers who started out on the editorial side influenced his decision.

Podunk Pelline’s a hoot! Now he’s patting himself on the back because an article in the latest issue of his magazine about Vail Resorts takes the same angle as an article in Barron’s. This gives him an excuse to remind us once again about how great he used to be: “We’re proud to have mirrored the Barron’s kind of analysis in our regional lifestyle magazine…We credit it to our years of experience writing business article at the San Francisco Chronicle and the startup CNET…”

What this tells me is that Vail’s PR people did a good job of selling the story they want to tell to at least two media outlets. They even got both publications to rewrite the same press releases, as Jeffie reports: “(Barron’s article) includes a lot of the same details as our cover article.” LOL.